Roberto Mancini chose to field new signings Aleksandar Kolarov, David Silva and Yaya Toure, in a defensive-minded 4-3-3 / 4-5-1 that essentially featured three holding midfielders.

The key to the game was all about who could control the tempo. The two sides had completely different approaches – Spurs played quick balls to the wingers who looked to run at the City full-backs, and they played at an incredibly high tempo as they dominated the opening period.

Spurs had a host of efforts on goal in the first 15 minutes but found Joe Hart in excellent form – he made multiple outstanding saves to deny Tottenham. Most of the chances came when Spurs got the ball wide and got crosses in – direct balls to the front two were dealt with reasonably well by Kolo Toure and Vincent Kompany.

City struggled to maintain possession of the ball early on, despite their three central midfielders, and therefore were unable to slow the pace of the game. Hart hit a couple of hopeless long balls towards Tevez upfront, where he had little chance of getting the better of Michael Dawson and Ledley King in the air. Tottenham were defending with two solid banks of four, but City rarely looked to get their midfielders or full-backs into attacking positions early on, so they were often faced with a 3 v 8 situation when trying to break down the Spurs defence.

City improve

Eventually Spurs had to drop the pressure slightly after their frantic opening to the game, and City gradually grew into the contest – the more they had possession, the more their shape had an interesting look to it. Tevez played possibly the most exaggerated false nine role possible – picking up the ball in incredibly deep positions and letting Silva and Shaun Wright-Phillips attempt diagonal, out-in runs in behind the Spurs defence.

The primary reason for this was that they forced Tottenham into abandoning their two-striker formation, as one of them (generally Defoe) was forced to drop back deep into midfield and help out. Often he would try and get goalside of one of the City’s midfielders, but on another occasion he found himself tracking Kolarov’s run from left-back – with City outnumbering Spurs 3 v 2 in the centre of midfield, Aaron Lennon was sometimes forced inside and left Kolarov free.

Spurs still on top

That said, Spurs were still creating the better chances, and it’s difficult to understand what they were doing wrong other than not providing the finishing touches to some excellent moves. This was seemingly what Harry Redknapp thought too, for he chose to remove the ineffectual Crouch-Defoe partnership in favour of Roman Pavlyuchenko and Robbie Keane midway through the second half, rather than actually changing the formation as a whole, or substituting players involved in build-up play.

Kolarov’s half-time injury may have helped City, because his replacement Pablo Zabaleta dealt far better with Aaron Lennon. This seemed to allow Micah Richards to push on on the opposite side (in the first half, Kolarov had been the main attacking threat) and he started to push Bale into more defensive positions.

In the second half both sides became slightly tired – maybe to be expected on the opening day of the season, and considering the nature of the first 15 minutes. City’s ball retention meant the pace of the game slowed and it became a more static contest, although Barry took up more advanced and wider positions, playing almost as a carrilero rather than a basic central midfielder.

No goals

What both sides lacked was a central midfielder looking to connect with the strikers – City’s central three were conservative, whilst Luka Modric and Tom Huddlestone combined only completed two passes to any of the four strikers that featured for Spurs, partly as a result of being up against a three, partly because that was Spurs’ gameplan.

The game deserved a goal, but on the opening day, a draw between last season’s 4th and 5th-placed sides was perhaps to be expected.

Conclusion

Little to talk about from a tactical point of view about Spurs, though they were the better side, creating more chances. Hart was the best player on the pitch by some distance, and on a few occasions Spurs lacked a little luck.

Mancini’s defensive-minded formation will come in for some criticism, but one suspects he got the result he was looking for. The three central midfielders actually did their job rather well, but Tevez dropped too deep considering neither Silva nor Wright-Phillips were comfortable in becoming the temporary centre-forward when he did. Wright-Phillips wasted City’s best chance, through on goal with a bouncing ball, but he didn’t even manage to get a shot away.

With so many new arrivals it’s difficult to predict City’s formation, but this 4-3-3 / 4-5-1 might be Mancini’s preferred system for ‘big’ games, particularly tricky away trips. It needs some refining, but he’s not too far away from something that works quite nicely.

Surely City can’t rely on their keeper playing a blinder every game? I would quote how many shots on target Spurs had as evidence for this system not working too well. However figures given by different sources (BBC, Sky etc.) are wildly different for some reason.

Different companies have slightly different definitions for this kind of thing. You’re right though, they can’t. But then this was (on the crude basis that away games are harder than home games, and Spurs finished 4th last year) their fourth-hardest game of the season.

FootballShmootball on August 15, 2010 at 3:31 pm

You have a point there. However I do hope that they show more ambition in future matches, given the amount of spending they’ve done. Settling for draws (even away to quality sides) doesn’t make a title winning team.

Jotun on August 15, 2010 at 4:30 pm

I don’t know… On paper yes, but spurs created most chances from set pieces and corners and I’m not sure how will city fare against typical english long ball sides like Stoke. The fact that spurs had 60% in first half (according to premiership live score centre) is something mancini should be worried.

Also ZM based on your previous article about new DM’s and that interceptions are becoming more important in football it is worth noting that Modric had 10 interceptions (according to guardian chalkboard). By far more than any other player (all other players combined had 44 I believe).

adam on August 15, 2010 at 2:32 pm

I thought that this match gave the clearest indication as to why Mancini wants Milner, and to a lesser extent, Balotelli.
The pedestrian nature of the midfield 3 gave City little impetus going forward- Milners role as “creator” in a trio would be ideal, and is clearly a hole in their current squad. Against the bigger sides, yesterdays threesome is probably okay, but against weaker teams, the added attacking instincts of Milner will be crucial.
On the other hand, Balotelli will be a useful winger in the 4-5-1/4-3-3. His physical stature will offer something that s lacking when playing tevez in the centre

I agree 100% about Balotelli. What cried out was that City needed a direct right-winger (Silva tends to drift into centre) who is comfortable in a forward role when Tevez goes walkies.

Roberticus on August 15, 2010 at 6:14 pm

But is Milner really a creator?
What he would offer is surging runs, a greater sense of urgency, but surely for games and Eastlands and/or against weaker opposition Mancini needs a ball-player in there.

Just look at ZM’s diagram; there are acres of space lying in front of the City CMs and to the backs of Modric & Huddlestone – tailor made for a playmaker no matter how languid.

jerome on August 15, 2010 at 2:37 pm

mancini is finding his problem with that system at city is that he doesn’t have cambiasso, a DM with bags of creativity too. he’s found a new stankovic though in milner, a new vieira in yaya toure (since the old vieira is too old) and i guess he’ll let de jong anchor properly. barry is too pedestrian compared to cambiasso. i don’t think tevez up front alone works at all because too often in the second half they had no point of reference up front although at the same time the 4-6-0 allowed them to claw back some control from the sublime spurs.

modric and huddlestone might be the best passing cm partnership in the league if i’m honest. i feel spurs are still lacking some extra quality up front but with those two in the middle having proven themselves being able to control a game against 3 defensively strong midfielders yesterday and chelsea at the back end of last year, i think the foundations are very strong for spurs to go from strength to strength IF they add a little bit more quality because their front line is probably the worst in the top 6.

Anyone else surprised to see SWP start the game? Was Johnson injured? Also it is such a shame that Robinho doesn’t want to stay in Manchester a forward three of Tevez Robinho Silva/Adebayor would be something to see, particularly at home!

Nice link to Sid Lowe’s opinions on Tiki Taka – the way Spain play is so defensively sound.

ZM any predictions for the upcoming seasons?

mikex on August 15, 2010 at 4:39 pm

That link perhaps is a gently way to defense ZM theory in his/her previous article. ^_^

(sorry about my english)

mikex on August 15, 2010 at 4:12 pm

Luck !
who said we don’t need one ^_^

stephen Dedalus on August 15, 2010 at 4:13 pm

I do often wonder about the False Nine position. We can agree that it is becoming one of the more dominant tactical tropes of the Twenty First century. Yet sometimes I think it may have more to do with the front man (in the case Tevez) simply moving out of position to enter the area of play. This is especially the case with a Manchester City team who play with three such deep lying midfielders.

Also, the high pass percentage rate from the Manchester three suggests to me two things; 1) That Tottenham (Modric and Huddlestone, plus one other) really didn’t do a good job of closing them down; 2) that the passing was far from challenging. By this I mean that the passing was relatively static. I notice that Barry (number 18) seems to dominate the chalkboard. It’s about passing sideways, as opposed to passing forwards. I have no problem with this style, but I don’t think Barry is quite in the Xavi mould.

Other than that though, this is a frankly wonderful website. I’m sure you are inundated with such fawning praise, but I really believe that it is justly warranted.

Andrew on August 15, 2010 at 4:20 pm

ZM, could you consider the city lineup a 4-6-0?

I also wouldn’t be surprised to see Mancini go back to his diamond with something like:
——Toure—–
Milner——Barry
——Silva——
–Tevez—Ade/Balo

bo on August 15, 2010 at 4:23 pm

What about this 4-5-1, since I think with YAYA making runs forward they will play with Dejong as the anchor man in the hole. Barry will be Milner’s reserve.

Tevez/Ade
Robinho/Silva Balotelli/Johnson

Toure Milner

Dejong

Kolarov Kompany Boateng Richards

Stu on August 15, 2010 at 5:03 pm

Spurs have a very settled and solid squad, but one recurring problem that you pointed out. The link from CM to the strikers just isn’t there. Say what you want about Crouch, but he doesn’t hold up play.. and Defoe has never been confident with his back to goal. Modric and Thudd are possibly the best passing CM partnership in the prem, so I think it’s safe to say the link-up problem isn’t them. What Spurs really need is a strong target man who can hold up play, or play up front by himself.

jonathan on August 15, 2010 at 7:20 pm

I’d like to see City play a lopsided 4-3-3/4-2-2-2 with Adebayor up top, Tevez behind him and shaded to the right, Silva out on the left a little deeper to provide an outlet from the midfield on that side, with a midfield three of De Jong and Toure holding (with Toure coming forward more) and Milner in the center-right area of the midfield advanced to provide some attacking flair and width from that side to fill that space left by not playing anyone directly on the right wing. It’d be a similar system to what Chelsea like to play.

I don’t think City will do much with Tevez playing up front on his own. He drifts deep way too often and while he is quick over the first few yards he lacks pace over ten yards or more and center-backs do not have to worry about him running in behind. He never played as a lone striker with United and even when he played in the middle he was flanked by Rooney and Ronaldo running in behind him to create space and with Argentina this summer he always played behind Higuain. The sooner Manchini puts Adebayor up high the sooner City will actually be a threat to challenge for the title.

RonDL on August 15, 2010 at 8:02 pm

I didn’t see the match but I wonder why Mancini bought another fairly defensive minded CM in Yaya Toure and put David Silva on the wings. I know it’s hard to classify Yaya as a DMF because he does have quality going forward, but having 3 ball holders is a bit of an overkill. These three won’t necessarily lose you games, but they probably won’t win games for the team either.

I would take one of them out to shift Silva to the center, use Tevez’s industry and talent on either wings to nullify S*ur’s wing-play, and put a good striker in the center to really hassle the defenders and link/hold play with the brilliant Silva/Tevez.

What are their central striking options besides Tevez and Balotelli?

I’m not sure Santa Cruz is Premiership Champion material and Adebayor is Adebayor. He can produce the goods or be downright pathetic however he feels. I hope Balotelli gets the time, the coaching, and develop the maturity required to fulfill his natural talent. Would be a great player to watch as a football fan.

We’ve seen how a talented attacking midfielder can do some serious damage in Iniesta, Oezil, and maybe even Schweinsteiger from the World Cup in a 3v2 midfield situation. I guess Mancini just didn’t want to lose this match or for any other Premiership matches given how many C/DMFs they have.

David on August 16, 2010 at 2:04 am

People call Toure a DM but he’s really more of an attacking player. The ESPN commentator compared him to Vieira – it’s a good comparison IMO. Sometimes Arsene Wenger played Gilberto, Vieira and Parlour or Gilberto, Vieira, and Edu in the same team – Vieira was the creative player in both cases. Like Vieira, Toure can score goals, he can create goals, and he’s a good technical player. He just happens to be big and strong as well.

I do agree though that Man City could use a Cambiasso. I doubt they will buy another central midfielder this year, but if they don’t achieve their lofty goals, maybe they will go after someone like Schweinsteiger or Javi Garcia next year.

Jesse on August 16, 2010 at 3:40 am

My “expert” analysis was that City played a lopsided 4-4-1-1 with Silva as sort of an old fashioned inside left behind Tevez, and Barry playing a left-sided holding midfielder. I think Balotelli or Milner will eventually replace Barry which should cause problems for defending teams. The left back and the holding midfielder are going to have to decide who to track – Milner/Balo pushing down the line creates space for Silva to drift inside to combine (hopefully) with Yaya and the deep-dropping Tevez. Tevez dropping deep often causes the central defenders to forget the runners sneaking in behind them…

BTW, gotta say that Efan Ekoku was driving me crazy during the match yesterday. Kept going on about no one being in the box for City to receive crosses… Of course, he says the same thing about Spain…

I’ve always suspected Guardian’s passing graphics were wrong, this just confirms it. Toure played a great dinked ball over the top of the defence for Wright-Phillips to run onto (as you allude to in the article), it’s nowhere to be seen in the chalkboard. 5 mins later he tried a similar ball which didn’t quite come off, that’s not on the chalkboard either. They were vertical balls into the box, nothing like those 2 short diagonal passes to the right edge of the box as shown in the chalkboard. The figures are correct but it looks like the Guardian guys got lazy and made up all the individual passing directions.

Toure’s passing was good yesterday, particularly under pressure (obviously a product of his side at Barca). I have to agree that it was a very interesting game, and I have to thank this website in particular for making me appreciate the tactical battles in such games. Both sides protected their defence well and got back quickly to defend, and both had distinctly differing attacking philosophies – Spurs with their width and City with their central superiority (or lack of attacking philosophy rather). Counterattacking was the most productive form of attack for both sides.

I think the Premier League has gradually become the new 90s Serie A in terms of defending. So many sides, even the newly-promoted ones, are learning to defend with 8 players rather than 4/5/6, and blocking out any space in the box or in front of the box. You really have to work hard to score – set pieces, physical challenges, aerial play etc. Chelsea beat Wigan 9-1 last season but if you watch the goals, Wigan always had 5/6 players back in the box. You don’t see simple defence-splitting passes or balls or over the top of a defence that often, even if it does happen striker’s don’t have much time to pull the trigger. It frustrates me as an Arsenal fan but while watching Spurs vs City I was fascinated to see how each side would break down the other.

I came to the exact same conclusion re: the Chalkboard. I was at the game, and I’d counted far more than two misplaced passes from Toure (because I noticed just how bad those two were). I’ve so far re-watched the first twenty minutes, and there have already been two that don’t appear on the Chalkboard.

spursfan on August 16, 2010 at 6:22 am

same old spurs. beautiful attacking football with ever-flowing movement but without a goal. this match sums up the stereotype of tottenham hotspur. i am frustrated because of a certain joe hart, whom i like a lot.

Nick on August 16, 2010 at 9:27 am

I can imagine Milner and Barry both playing as carrileros either side of Yaya Toure. They are both industrious, both comfortable infield and out on their respective flanks.

Mancini might then tailor his attacking three to suit the opposition. Perhaps Silva in behind two strikers, or three interchanging forwards, or Adebayor supported by two wingers… whichever is best for the fixture in question.

What I saw in this game was that their was a lack of width. The full backs didn’t get up enough being pinned back especially in the first half. This was maybe because they had to handle the pace of Lennon and Bale, the latter have a great game and seemed to be the most creative Spurs player on the pitch unlucky not to score.

Tevez played the false-nine. But I don’t think that 1. They had enough in the midfield going past Tevez offering an attacking threat and Silva and SWP themselves are not the most proflific of scorers. Silva himself I would see more of a creator then a scorer. But this is also hampered by the fact that this team is changing on a regular basis to play the false nine I think that you need great understanding between players to make the right movement. This can come overtime and playing on a regular basis with each other though.

City have spent alot of money on attacking talent and why they have left out goal getters like Bellamy and Adebayor I haven’t a clue. Silva looked a little muscles out of the game at times, especially against the solid two banks of 4, Spurs showing why the 4-4-2 still offers a great defensive options still. I would have preferred that City be a little more positive when they ahve such talent and go in search of a goal. Playing Adebayor and taking off one of the holding midfielders. This would have meant that Silva could have played more a creative role. Adebayor could occupy the two central defenders while Tevez dropped deep and had space to cause problems. But also giving someone higher up the pitch to offers some outlet. I think the false nine role can work for City over time and with a few extra additions to the squad, but I think they needed to recognise it wasn’t going to win them the game today and changed personnel a little earlier.

Great game to start the season with though

andysup on August 16, 2010 at 1:16 pm

Interesting that an old-fashioned 4-4-2 overcame a 4-5-1 for once! Despite all that has been written about having a 3v2 in the centre of the park, Tottenham managed to avoid being overrun (in the first half at least). What is odd is that City’s holding midfielders appeared reluctant to help out their full-backs, and so with Silva and SWP not willing to help out either, Bale and Lennon were having a field day.

But… will Harry play 4-4-2 away in the Champions League? City’s ball retention in the first half was poor – against a more cohesive side with more natural options in the front three, this game could have been so different.

And why does Mancini like playing three holding midfielders so much? He tried it last season but when he introduced a more attack-minded midfielder (like Ireland) they looked so much better. Right now, they look like a world cup team with a defensive unit and an attacking unit, although not with the typical 6 defending and 4 attacking – here it is 7 and 3!

Matt on August 17, 2010 at 12:50 pm

Mancini is playing 2 holding midfielders in De Jong and Toure behind Barry, who is supposed to be more advanced. Barry is not a capable defensive midfielder and works better in the role prescribed to him in this formation.

I would say that this system demands a more dynamic player alongside Barry to work effectively. As a version of the Barcelona trio in midfield, it lacks the clever movement and passing that makes the system work so well for the catalans.

Maybe City should have bought Fabregas instead of Toure!

andysup on August 17, 2010 at 4:59 pm

But Barry didn’t play ahead of the other two, certainly not in the first half at least.

I thought Silva and WP played too central in the attack, instead of taking advantage of their pace on the wings. Another problem for City was Silva forgot too often to track back and cover the space ahead of Kolarov. In the second half, they solved that using a 4-4-2 with Barry on the left and Silva as a forward. I have photos that show this on my site.

Fernan on August 18, 2010 at 3:30 pm

Mr Zonal Marking,
May I ask why there isn’t any analasys of Chelsea’s high scoring wins.
Like this week 6-0,I always wondered how they achieved that.